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WhatsApp users on Windows have been warned about major security issue that can exploited to steal their personal data by hackers.
WhatsApp desktop app on Windows is a security risk, the government has issued
WhatsApp desktop users face a major security risk and they have been warned about it by the Indian government this week. The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team or CERT-IN, which falls under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India, on April 9 issued a ‘high-severity’ alert for WhatsApp users who have installed the desktop app on their PCs.
The popular messaging app has become the favourite of scammers and issues like these bring unwanted attention to WhatsApp with over 400 million active users in the country itself.
WhatsApp Security Issue: Time To Be Worried?
The biggest takeaway of this security alert is that WhatsApp users could face a barrage of spoofing attacks if the hackers manage to exploit the vulnerabilities. The CERT-In note explains, “the vulnerability exists due to misconfiguration between the MIME type and file extension, leading to improper handling of attachment openings. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by crafting malicious attachments which could execute arbitrary code when opened manually within WhatsApp.”
The security risk is mostly linked to the WhatsApp desktop app that runs on Windows PCs. The agency says the WhatsApp Desktop for Windows versions prior to 2.2450.6 are vulnerable to these spoof attacks.
WhatsApp does have a detailed security advisory out in the public which highly advises WhatsApp desktop app users to update to the latest version right away by following these steps:
- You can update WhatsApp from the Microsoft Store
- Find WhatsApp Messenger in the Microsoft Store
- Click Update
The security agency has been keeping busy in April 2025 with further alerts issued for iPhone 16 and Android 15 users in the country over the last few days.
- Location :
Delhi, India, India
